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Sto caricando le informazioni... Captain America and the Crusade against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalismdi Robert Jewett
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As immediate and relevant as today's headlines, this book sets forth a bold argument with direct implications for political life in America and around the world. Combining incisive cultural analysis and keen religious insight, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence maintain that American crusading -- so powerfully embodied in popular entertainments -- has striking parallels with Islamic jihad and Israeli militancy. According to Jewett and Lawrence, American civil religion has both a humane, constitutional tradition and a violent strand that is now coming to the fore. The crusade to rid the world of evil and "evildoers" derives from the same biblical tradition of zealous warfare and nationalism that spawns Islamic and Israeli radicalism. In America, where this tradition has been popularized by superheroic entertainments, the idea of zealous war is infused with a distinctive sense of mission that draws on secular and religious images. These crusading ideals are visible in such events as the settling of the western frontier, the World Wars, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and America's present war on terrorism. In exploring the tradition of zealous nationalism, which seeks to redeem the world by destroying enemies, the authors provide a fascinating access to the inner workings of the American psyche. They analyze the phenomenon of zeal -- the term itself is the biblical and cultural counterpart of the Islamic concept of jihad -- and address such consequential topics as the conspiracy theory of evil, the problem of stereotyping enemies, the mystique of violence, the obsession with victory, and the worship of national symbols such as flags. This critical book, however, is also immensely constructive. As Jewett and Lawrence point out, the same biblical tradition that allows for crusading mentalities also contains a critique of zealous warfare and a profound vision of impartial justice. This tradition of prophetic realism derives from the humane side of the biblical heritage, and the authors trace its manifestations within the American experience, including its supreme embodiment in Abraham Lincoln. Isaiah's "swords into plowshares" image is carved on the walls of the United Nations building, thus standing at the center of a globally focused civil religion. Grasping this vision honored by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike includes recognizing the dangers of zealous violence, the illusions of current crusading, and the promise of peaceful coexistence under international law. Instructive, relevant, and urgent, Captain America and the Crusade against Evil is sure to provoke much soul-searching and wide debate. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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 Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni...GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)303.48273017671Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Social Processes Social change Causes of change Contact between cultures America and the WorldClassificazione LCVotoMedia: (3.33)
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Jewett’s thesis is relatively simply stated. Much American politics and rhetoric has swallowed the myth of being the 'New Israel' that is 'Righteous' and has the selfless duty of civilizing the world. The roots of this are to be found in the Puritan theology of the settlers, which itself is founded in a particular reading of the Old Testament, and especially its Deuteronomic strands.
As this ideology states that the righteous nation will have victory through conquest of evil, then military force becomes not just a sad pragmatic and necessity but a patriotic duty. The image of the superhero perpetuates culturally and in a secularised sense the myth of redemption through violence.
Further, because righteousness guarantees victory, defeat cannot be entertained even in distant conflicts - Jewett initially wrote very shortly after the Vietnam War – as that would be a ‘psychic threat’ to national identity.
The solution, for Jewett, is to reject the ‘idolatrous’ identification of righteousness with the American way, and read more closely the ‘prophetic realism’ of Amos and Isaiah et. al. which shows that sin and evil are not simply extrinsic to the nation.
Jewett’s thesis is quite compelling, and it was quite sobering to come to realise as I read it that it translates quite easily into the conflicts with various terrorist groups and middle eastern regimes of the past decade (as I read Jewett I was not aware of the 2002 update – which retains many of the chapter headings of the 1984 version). The self belief and sense of righteousness of our former Prime Minister would probably fall within the sphere of Jewett’s criticism also.
Where I part company somewhat with Jewett is in his rather un-nuanced reading of the Deuteronomistic author. Jewett himself points out some contradictory aspects of the Deuteronomistic history – he pick particularly on the death of Josiah in battle – which to me suggests that the narrative as we have it has more subtlety than Jewett gives it credit for.
That aside, however, the book raises many important questions which remain very current. While it may be better to read the 2002 collaboration with Lawrence, this edition has the merit of being almost half the length.